Don’t Pollute our Fruit!

Could the produce on your plate have been grown with wastewater from oil production?

Food & Water Watch, along with our partners, is launching a nationwide campaign to stop top fruit and vegetable brands in California’s Central Valley from irrigating their produce with wastewater from oil production. Find out what you can do.

We all need safe food and clean water.

California’s Central Valley grows and exports much of the produce consumed in the U.S. and around the world. As much as 98% of the country’s almonds, 83% of its carrots and much of the citrus come from these “pastures of plenty.” The Central Valley is also home to most of the oil drilling in the nation’s third largest oil-producing state. So, oil producers like Chevron and some of the nation’s biggest agricultural brands have struck an unappetizing deal; Chevron sells wastewater laced with toxic chemicals to local water districts, which sell it to agribusiness to irrigate the crops that feed the world.

Even more shocking, there are virtually no guidelines or regulations for testing the water, which is run through walnut husks and mixed with fresh water to become “produced water.” However, an independent review shows that some toxic chemicals that could be present in the water are linked to cancer and reproductive harm, such as ethylbenzene and toluene, potentially exposing those eating the produce and working in the fields.

What you can do

Food & Water Watch, along with seven other organizations, is asking consumers to sign a pledge not to buy Halos mandarins or Pom Wonderful juice until these brands stop taking oil wastewater to irrigate their crops. We are also calling on Governor Jerry Brown to order the Cawelo and North Kern water districts to stop taking and reselling Chevron’s toxic wastewater.

Once you’ve signed the pledge, you can work with others in your community to ask local school districts to pledge not to serve these brands in school lunches and ask local restaurants and grocers to take the pledge.

Food & Water Watch champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people’s lives and protects our environment.